Bilbao Masters – Vallejo overcomes Ivanchuk

10/7/2011 – It was a round full of tough chess, and fascinating games for all tastes. The first game to finish was Anand against Nakamura in a Ruy Lopez Berlin that went the distance. Aronian found himself suffering throughout the game against Carlsen though he survived. Vallejo beat Ivanchuk, when the latter faltered in time trouble. Illustrated report with video and annotations by GM Romain Edouard.

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The first leg of the Grand Slam was staged in São Paulo, Ibirapuera
Park, from September 25th to October 1st, the second leg takes place in Bilbao,
Alhóndiga, from 5th to 11th October. Tournament system: double round
robin with six players over ten rounds. Time control: 90 minutes/40 moves +
60 minutes + 10 seconds/move starting with the first move. Games begin at 16:00h
local Spanish time (10 a.m. New York, 18:00h Moscow).

Round seven

If anything, the tournament has been anything but predictable, and the seventh round merely compounded that. With the world's top three playing, who would have expected Ivanchuk to just run away with it, yet that is pretty much what he has been doing.

Leontxo García leads the post-game interview with Anand

Anand met Nakamura for the second time, and faced Hikaru's Berlin, a very tough nut to crack. The World Champion was hard pressed to do so, and despite gaining an extra pawn in the latter stage, it was impossible to work it to his advantage.

Aronian played a creative game against Carlsen, but when facing such a player, one had best be very well-covered to not find one's inventiveness the cause for one's demise. That seemed dangerously close to happening, as a hidden move missed by Levon left him with a very unpleasant position to defend. Despite having to suffer for the second time straight, he also avoided disaster once again.

Life tends to balance things out, and this game did just that at Ivanchuk's expense. In the sixth round, Vallejo had had a large advantage against Aronian, and was very close to beating him though the path to victory eluded him. This time, he merely had a minor advantage against the tournament leader, yet Caissa saw fit to reward him as Vasily tripped fatally in time trouble.

See also

11/28/2018 – The moment we've all been waiting for! Live games (for Premium members) from the 2018 World Championship match in London. Every two games will be followed by a rest day until Game 12 (if necessary) on November 26th which will be preceded by an additional rest day. All rounds start at 15:00 UT (London time) / 16:00 CEST / 10:00 EST. If needed there would be a rapid tiebreak match on Wednesday, November 28th. | Photos: Patricia Claros

See also

8/27/2018 – Live games and commentary from Saint Louis! Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian tied for first place, while Caruana also tied for fourth place in the Grand Chess Tour standings with Wesley So, forcing a playoff match to be held on Tuesday. | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.

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